My Debt Settlement Progression

Hi there,

Are you saying you had other cards that were current and only late on citi? How is it they didn't give you a hassle about that? Cause UCB went over everything on my credit report with me.??
Please register and tell us more about your story. It helps us all.
thanks,
Kaylee

This is my settlement progression thread and I am updating it for my own records mostly but I also will cross post this on my UCB thread because it is kinda different with regards to settling.
I posted about my 2 Citi accounts and settling and that one had gone to UCB and they were nasty and I ended up settling at 35% cause it was upsetting me.
Well, in the end I settled it for 27%!!!
What happened was on the day I wrote this thread (Aug. 2nd I think) we haggled and I got them to 35% and then they wanted a check on the phone and would not send me the settlement offer first so I said 'no' I won't give you a check, I will only send cashier's check and want the offer in writing. He said he would talk to his supervisor and call me back the following day. We even talked about how I might be with my co-workers and could not talk and so he went ahead and gave me their mailing address, said he would leave go ahead voice mail, all stuff that indicated it was a done deal. Well, he never called me back and after a few days I was really worrying, playing over the conversation in my head, did I get something wrong, all that....
He called back a week later and left a message that I could tell he had dropped the ball, must not have documented something and was mixed up. So when I called back he asked me what I could settle for (like we had not already discussed this) and I said well, now I settled another one so I only have $5000(instead of $7500) left for you. He put me on with his supervisor who did not even argue, he just said let me submit it and he said he would call in 2 days, well it was a week but he sent settlement letter and that was that. I was very shocked and honestly still am not sure what happened but I do know one thing from dealing with them and that is they really push this end of month thing and 'it must be done by this day or you will lose it' but then if you just ignore them once that day passes the offer is better instead of off the table as they try to make you believe.
I even post dated the check for the 27th. I waited until it was a done deal to post this because it was so bizarre I didn't want to jinx it.
Kaylee

[QUOTE=kaylee;730573]Boom boom boom, 3 accounts settled today, one to go!

Good news!
Citi 1 that had gone to UCB was the nastiest and toughest and I had to settle it at 35%. We have talked about the no rhyme and reason thing so I probably should not try to guess but I can???t help it. As I said I talked to them once a week and kept letting them know I was trying to come up with a solution. Then this guy called me from the High Balance Recovery and he was a little rude, my boss walked in and I asked him to call me back in 15 minutes. Well, then I got busy and did not take the call so did not talk to them for 2 weeks. I think this was my mistake because they had told me they would not send it out until 180 days. But I think I made that guy mad and he sent it out at 120. Much harder to settle for me being in collections. This may not be the case with everyone but I get very upset with nasty people and probably cave sooner.
But I did get him from 45% to 35%.

Next I called Citi 2 (still in house). I offered $4500 on 18k balance, they called MAU and got it!!! So I think that is 25%. Woohoo.

Chase was next and the same balance and offer. Got it for $5000.

B of A is all I have left and it is highest balance but I am not late enough, still under 60 days.

But what a relief.

As to the way I got the money???it is a gamble but I had an IRA (you can???t take loans on them like 401k) but there is a loophole where you can take the money out once a year for 60 days. You must put it back in the 60 days but I think I can do it.
I sold my classic car and I have been saving my $1500 per month ever since I stopped paying the cards. I am selling one house and I won???t make much but maybe 5 to 10k and if I can sell it before the 2 months then even tho I won???t have closed on it, that would be enough to get a family loan on it.
That is the gamble part so wish me luck.
But it feels great to be getting this behind me!
Thanks for all your support.
Kaylee:p:p:p

[/QUOTE]

Great news Kaylee!!:D

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I have not been on the forums for a couple of weeks but wanted everyone to know that I settled my B of A yesterday for 25%. Right at 100 days.

It was my largest balance at 40k and I probably should have settled it first, if I had it to do over I would do the biggest first and also I staggered my defaults and I would have not done that.

BofA was my easiest one to settle, they (shockingly) called me one or 2 times. I called them and kept them updated every month and then last week I got a letter from them offering 35% settlement. I was out of town and just called them back yesterday. I said thank you but I only can go 25%. Had it done in about 10 minutes. Very pleasant.

I staggered the payments until Jan. 2011 and wonder if anyone wants to comment on the 1099 tax implications of doing this in 2 tax years.
we discussed this at length before and I got some help on the insolvency form and figured out I would be insolvent at the time of settling but I wonder if that will be affected by taking this one into another year. My other 3 would have been settled this year. I could borrow the money if I need to get it all done this year.

thanks for all the support and I am so relieved to be done with all this!

Kaylee

Kaylee,

Thanks for posting your update. We are quickly approaching 90 days late on our accounts so we are getting prepared to hopefully start settlement discussions. The waiting has been the worst! It's always helpful to read other people's recent situations and successes!

Hopefully I will be posting some of my own in the next month or so.

Kaylee, the balance of your debt isn't written off until after you last payment is made so, your 1099c should be for tax year 2011.

Hi OhioGal, that is pretty much what I thought but I settled 3 others before this one and they were finished a couple of months ago meaning 3 in 2010 and one in 2011. Should I try to get the one that will finish in 2011 squeezed in under the 2010 deadline? So all 4 will be togther?
thanks

Keep us posted Debt in the distance, you can do it and we are here to help!

Kaylee

Hi, Kaylee. It's really up to you. If you're insolvent this year and you think you will be next year as well, it's not going to matter. If you think you have the money to pay off the 4th on in 2010, I'd go ahead and do it...more to get it over with than for any other reason.

Awesome Kaylee! Was it a special phone # or person you talked to at BOA?

Awesome work, Kaylee! Was there a special phone # or person you talked with at BOA?

[QUOTE=kaylee;743007]This is my settlement progression thread and I am updating it for my own records mostly but I also will cross post this on my UCB thread because it is kinda different with regards to settling.
I posted about my 2 Citi accounts and settling and that one had gone to UCB and they were nasty and I ended up settling at 35% cause it was upsetting me.
Well, in the end I settled it for 27%!!!
What happened was on the day I wrote this thread (Aug. 2nd I think) we haggled and I got them to 35% and then they wanted a check on the phone and would not send me the settlement offer first so I said 'no' I won't give you a check, I will only send cashier's check and want the offer in writing. He said he would talk to his supervisor and call me back the following day. We even talked about how I might be with my co-workers and could not talk and so he went ahead and gave me their mailing address, said he would leave go ahead voice mail, all stuff that indicated it was a done deal. Well, he never called me back and after a few days I was really worrying, playing over the conversation in my head, did I get something wrong, all that....
He called back a week later and left a message that I could tell he had dropped the ball, must not have documented something and was mixed up. So when I called back he asked me what I could settle for (like we had not already discussed this) and I said well, now I settled another one so I only have $5000(instead of $7500) left for you. He put me on with his supervisor who did not even argue, he just said let me submit it and he said he would call in 2 days, well it was a week but he sent settlement letter and that was that. I was very shocked and honestly still am not sure what happened but I do know one thing from dealing with them and that is they really push this end of month thing and 'it must be done by this day or you will lose it' but then if you just ignore them once that day passes the offer is better instead of off the table as they try to make you believe.
I even post dated the check for the 27th. I waited until it was a done deal to post this because it was so bizarre I didn't want to jinx it.
Kaylee[/QUOTE]

I have been following your thread. Good work.

Just a question. When you said you settled at 35%, do you mean you settled the balance for 35% of the balance OR did you take 35% off the balance.

I have been getting settlements where I have paid 50% to 60% of the balance. I owe Chase $4500 and I haven't paid in months. I will try to offer 40% in full when I can put the money together.

Keep up the good work and keep posting.

I ended up settling for 27% and that was my highest, other 3 were right at 25%.
that means I settled the balance for 25% of what I owed..ie. BofA was 40k$ and I paid 10k. Unless my math is wrong that is 25%.
I stuck to it faithfully and it worked.
thanks and good luck.

Kaylee,
Congrats on getting your credit cards settled. I followed your thread with great interest because I have very similar debt circumstances. I'm on the verge of playing hardball with mine. I'm still reviewing things and seeing how many will cooperate with 5 year 0%/apr payouts.

If you don't mind sharing, I'm curious since this all started if you have monitored your credit and credit score. How bad did it tank and what kind of comments are they posting on there? I think I've read they note it was settled for less than owed or something to that effect. My good credit score is about the only thing that has kept me from attempting any settlements yet.

Although I don't think a good score is worth squat these days. I couldn't even qualify for a car loan refinance at the credit union despite the fact it was going to allow me to pay off 2 cards and reduce my monthly payments by $700. The car note expense was even going to go down $50 a month once they refinanced. This is with a 780 score and no lates. Couldn't believe it. They wanted major financial records to consider the refinance and really scrutinized debt/income ratio and then denied it. Unlike how they easily gave me the original auto loan 3 years ago and wired $25K to my bank account the next day just based on my credit score. :(

-Marie

Hi Marie,

I wish you the best of luck with whatever you decide to do. Each situation is unique I think but it is interesting to note that before I began defaulting and trying for settlements I also had great score, I think it was around 775 and I got a new house in Jan of this year. I know to some that might sound crazy but I was starting to realize I had problems and wanted a cheaper mortgage. My plan was to sell the house I was living in which had a higher mortgage. Unfortunatley, I did not think the housing slump had affected my part of the country and I was wrong so I could not sell my house and started tanking fast after I got the new house but back to the process of getting it...I also had never been late and had Wells Fargo on my other house so I got a pre-qual letter from them to begin shopping..it took me longer than I thought so I even had it renewed at 6 months....easy as pie then I found the house and kept asking if they needed anything more from me and the answer was 'no, we are all set'...I didn't worry about it since my other loan was with them. All of a sudden with one week to close, they needed crazy stuff that they had never needed before and really scrutinized it...I think I barely squeaked by so very similar to yours...
my score has dropped to 695. Only Citi has reported (2 cards settled with them). Chase has not yet reported, I don't know why and Bof A won't until I pay the last pymt.
Citi says 'paid in full as agreed'.
Take care and keep us posted.
Kaylee

Kaylee, thanks for the feedback. That is crazy about Wells Fargo. Sometimes I don't think they have a clue what they are doing but glad you got in your more affordable house before you started on your road to settlements. I've pretty much figured that I will not get any new credit on anything, despite even having collateral. Glad I have my major things covered already.

I'm amazed after going 4-5 months late that you don't have a trashed credit report. Did they not even report you 30/60/90 days late, etc? I figured they did that immediately or maybe it doesn't lower your score as much as I thought it would. Very interesting. Especially interesting that Citi says paid in full as agreed. I thought they marked it settled for lower amount or something like that.

BTW...what classic car did you have to sell? I have a couple of those too.

Hi Gawe,

I was a little surprised too about the credit report but someone told me it is like 5 points either every 30 days or maybe they said 90, not sure and no way of knowing if that is correct info. But I do expect it to get worse when more report.
I did ask each of them to report 'paid in full as agreed' before I signed off on settlement.
I sold a 900 Saab turbo convertible and a BMW 3.0 Heartbreaking!
What do you have?

Well hopefully it doesn't take too long to start to recover from all this on the credit score, although I wouldn't be looking to get credit anytime soon.

We have a few collector cars, mostly a 69 Camaro that is far from finished, a 2000 Trans Am, and a 1987 Trans Am GTA. One was a gift, one is tied to our business, the other we probably shouldn't have bought.

Kaylee, also follow your story, I settle with my one card (citi for 25%) at 8 months, now 4 months later my fico score is at 680. not bad! In fact my other credit card wasn't cancel, so I charge a small account on it to keep it active. Good to know it's there in case of a emergency.
Finally after a major illness. job lost etc, I'm starting to feel normal again! at peace!

Gawe,
My brother has a 69 camaro, canary yellow....I was shocked at how much that thing is worth..it is mint and he will not sell for anything! LOL.

good luck to you and Guest 1....I feel like 100 pounds are off me so I know it must feel good...I was not lucky enough to keep one card but that is OK, I still feel like I am starting over and have a fighting chance.
Kaylee

Was this reduced offer done through debt settlement company or by you(account holder)?.. thx





Quote:

I am all for 'do it yourself'.

A quick search of my posts will tell you this.

Kaylee

Kaylee, wow wish my 69 Camaro was mint. It looks like a junker right now but I understand the not selling it for anything mentality.

Well looks like whether I wanted to or not I am being forced to consider debt settlement. I was hoping to do some 5 year deals since I already had 2 set up but all of a sudden I feel like things have grinded to a halt. I have to focus on the mortgage, the vendors for my business and paying my employee. So the credit cards have to take a back seat. :( The calls have started. I'm not sure I planned this right because I should have changed some phone numbers. I've missed 2 Citi business payments, 2 Advanta business payments and now a personal Citi and personal Chase. It's not good. Guess I'll start a thread. Hoping I can muddle through it some how. I just don't have enough cash flow or reserves to settle all of them.

Marie

Kaylee: before you stopped paying on your credit cards when was that last time you charged something on them? Like did you wait 3 months of not using them then stop paying on them? This one areaI can't seem to figure out.

Thanks

Sorry I have not been on the forums.
Gawe, I am going to search for your new thread.
In too Deep---I charged right up until probably a week, this is when I was in trouble, I was taking cash advances to keep up with the others....I had read they were going to be hardball about that but they weren't.
Kaylee